FOREIGN INFLUENCE

Balinese youth, however, are not blind to the fact that Bali, their birthplace, belongs not only to the Balinese. It is populated with large numbers of migrants from other parts of Indonesia as well as overseas, mainly a result of the fact that it is a key international tourist destination. Some of the young people I spoke to see the influence of foreign culture on local lifestyles as positive. Others see it as responsible for the deterioration of Balinese culture.

"Foreign cultures don’t always have a negative influence," says 20-year old martial artist, Kadek Suparmi. "Sometimes they can be very beneficial. One of the clearest examples is the level of many Balinese peoples’ proficiency in foreign languages. If a lot of foreigners come here it has forced us to learn their languages." According to Kadek, there is no need to limit or decrease the number of foreign visitors. "We should just let them come as they please," she says. "They help increase our regional income, and lots of cultural benefits derive from tourism, too."

Tisna Andayani, however, worries that foreign cultures bring more negative effects than they do benefits. A singer of Balinese pop, a form of music sung in Balinese that is most popular among rural youth, Tisna, who has recently released her debut album, complains: "It makes me shudder to see my friends adopting Western-oriented lifestyles and clothes. To us Balinese, it doesn’t seem polite." This student of English literature at Warmadewa University sees foreign cultures as a threat to the Balinese way of life. "Some of those kids who act really western think that everything Balinese is passe, because there’s nothing new or modern about the Balinese way of life. This kind of attitude is dangerous - it degrades Balinese culture, and contributes to its deterioration."

Arya Wedakarna, a DJ at Radio Casanova in Denpasar, is similarly concerned about teen lifestyles that lionize ‘freedom’. At eighteen, he is well familiar with the world of the Balinese teenager. The ‘free sex lifestyle’ is an example he gives of one of the many problems emerging in teen circles. "We can’t close our eyes to the fact that free sex is becoming a serious concern for young people in Bali. The worrying thing is that many kids just consider it normal. "While failing to explain the exact nature of the ‘free sex problem’ he is referring to, he is adamant that it is a kind of ‘lifestyle’ that is beginning to have serious consequences.

Another aspect of teen life referred to as a problem by many of the young people to whom I spoke is the increasing use of narcotics among high-school age kids. Arya, for one, sees this as an upshot of the growing number of outsiders coming to Bali. "I don’t want to accuse anyone, but clearly the growth in tourism has given kids the opportunity to access drugs," he asserts, before attempting the following solution. "It’s at this point that the role of the family becomes important. Parents should do more to limit the activities of their teenage kids. Prevention mechanisms have to start at home."

BALINESE WOMEN

In many ways, Bali has adopted the reform slogan more totally and more seriously than it is being applied in other areas. There is hardly an aspect of local life that reformasi has left untouched. Not so, however, for Balinese women. Some local women feel that, reformasi or no reformasi, there have been too few changes in the situation of Balinese women - in terms of freedom and opportunity, at least - in too long a time. For them, they fear, reformasi promises little. Moreover, they continue to be faced with the uncomfortable fact that their biggest demon is ‘local tradition’, and this makes their first enemy other Balinese women.

"The caste system here makes it difficult for Balinese women to make changes to their general status. When they try to, they inevitably come up against tradition, and this means coming up against religion," says Oka Rusmini, a young novelist who is also on the editorial board or the local daily Bali Post. According to Rusmini, the struggle of Balinese women is a great deal more challenging than that of women in other areas. Before dealing with the issue of women’s status vis-a-vis men, she says, Balinese women have to sort through the complex web of traditional regulations that oppress them. "Before even coming to the problem of men, the emancipationist women have to have their fight with the orthodox women first. There are still many women who continue to fervently uphold rites and traditions which only work to oppress them," protests Rusmini.